Delaware Valley schedules special board meeting for Thursday

Monday

The Delaware Valley school board announced Monday that it will hold a special meeting Thursday at 7:15 a.m. at the Delaware Valley Administrative Offices.

The meeting was described as for “general purposes,” but the board is expected to discuss the purchase of land in Matamoras for the construction of a new elementary school.

The board has been in negotiations since November to purchase a 50-acre parcel, owned by Ellen P. Wiese, adjacent to Airport Park. The board originally proposed a contract to pay $1.35 million for the land, contingent on the district getting all of its land development approvals.

Attorneys representing the seller and the district were in negotiations throughout the weekend, Delaware Valley Superintendent John Bell said.

“The purpose of the meeting (Thursday) is in hopes there will be some kind of action on the Matamoras property,” Bell said. “I am very hopeful we are going to have a deal by Thursday.”

Many approvals are already done, Bell said. The longest approval, from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, will likely be done by the fall.

The district had a school building in Matamoras, but closed it in 1987 and moved students from those buildings to the campus next to Wal-Mart in Westfall.

The district already owns a 45-acre piece of property for construction of the new elementary school in Milford Township. But that land, two parcels totaling $1.9 million, bought in 2011, became controversial because it has a gas pipeline on the property.

In December, the board agreed to a contract with Davis R. Chant Realtor to sell the land for $2.25 million, with a commission of 6 percent of the selling price.

The district also owns 329 acres in Dingman Township, purchased in 2007 for $2.2 million. The land was to be used to build a high school and ballfields, but although most district students live in Dingman, that never happened.

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